


Toe Walking Achilles

by orphan_account



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Action & Romance, Along with his songs, Bittersweet, Clem is a member of the Delta, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Family, Friendship, Hurt, Lots of Music, Louis is the sweetest, Romance, Slow Burn, Teen Romance, Violence, edgy clem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-18 14:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17582231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: DISCONTINUEDWhen you live in a golden cage, you except your moments of freedom to be somehow fulfilling, not soaked in war blood.When they finally let you out, the first thing you do is get scared by a songbird singing its way out of decay.“The lyrics don’t make any sense”.“That’s why people love them”.“Well, I don’t see you crowd-surfing much”.“Well and I see you”.





	1. Hansel and Gretel

“Clem?”

“Yes, buddy?”

“Aren’t the names of our horses Kappa and Ten?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Then where’s the Trojan horse Lilly’s talking about?”

The girl lowered her hand full of cooked barley causing Kappa to grunt in confusion and brashly exhale. AJ’s sudden question reminded her that even though the unholy odor of rotten walking meat wasn’t around, at least as much as it used to, the Delta hold on their throats hadn’t weakened. 

“It’s not really a horse.”

The peaceful moment filled with the light smell of hay and dirty horses mixed with dewy morning scents outside of the restored barn seemed to get less disturbed as soon as Clem’s palm met wet lips of the horse.

“It’s not?”

“No, it is more of a fairytale. Like _Snow White_ or _Hansel and Gretel._ ”

“I didn’t like that one.”

“Too bad. You’re probably not going to like this one either.”

AJ giggling at her teasing comment reminded Clementine how easy it was with him. That seemed to be the only part of her that didn’t get buried under suffocating supervision of the Delta, under the unpleasant spotlights Lilly would occasionally put her on, under male members’ disturbingly confusing gaze and touch, under Goofball’s favorite milk powder blended with water and sugar, under the luxury of freshly washed clothes and having your own bed, under fake loyalty and vanishing hope. She wasn’t in any of those moments.

Clem was there only when Alvin Jr. would get caught in her embrace what happened once a week or two if she was lucky enough to come back in one piece after forced assignments and drenched in blood greetings of war. She was there when he praised funny tasting burnt potatoes the Delta served; when Dorian would bring Clementine a page from AJ’s favorite comic books that he hadn’t actually read. Typically it meant that he associated mentioned characters with her. Most of them were heroes. Usually, she cried.

“So who were the bad guys?”

“Huh?”

“Greeks or Trojans?”

Clem wasn’t sure. Lilly was into Greek mythology. She wasn’t. She didn’t read much at her leisure and when she finally got a hold on books, the ones with bloodlust semi-gods were not her first option.

So maybe the concept of bad guys did not exist in the Trojan War, she let herself wonder. Just like there was not any clear distinction whether she, Delta soldier, was any better than the humans she was told to eliminate.

“Probably the ones who started it.”

“So we’re not the bad guys?”

“What that’s about?” after she was done with feeding horses (the chore that was not required but later became their own routine after she had almost humiliated herself while begging to spend more time with AJ) Clem silently invited him to sit on a hay bale.

It was about her being absent all the time and him being taught the most efficient ways of termination. It was about them sleeping in separate rooms (Clementine called them cells when they first got there after being rescued from approaching starvation two years ago). It was about them being soon transferred to northern regions according to Michael. It was about AJ sensing remaining offness concerning their community with his untainted infantile gut.

A few moments later when a raider outside gave in to his growing impatience, they were escorted back to their base. AJ noticed how her whole body stretched into a tense obedient form and how her new demeanor let the childish, warm glimpses to die out. The only thing he seemed not to notice is that when Lilly talked about Trojan horse, she actually referred to Clementine.


	2. Maid Children

_“But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks ... and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.”_

She fumbled Abel’s cigarette in her hands and felt sick to her stomach. Wasn’t there anything else morally worthy except Leviticus in this man life? Reading those was even more sickening than smoking them. She tried a few times just because the process of stealing them and watching Abel lashing out at anybody but her – at first – was just as soothing as one puff for the man rolling them.

He probably figured she was the one stealing them. That was why the previous verses contained some nasty stuff about period and how dirty a woman’s body was. This son of…

“Get going,” the sound of Dorian voice startled her just enough to compare it to the ship’s horn enchanting any walker within a ten-mile radius. Except it wasn’t. The trip was as deadly silent as the lands they traveled to.

“I thought I was meeting AJ here.”

“You aren’t. He’s seasick.”

“Sick?” she wasn’t feeling great either. That could be her stomach spoiled by regular meals finally getting to apocalypses level of empty, “Can I see him?”

“Get back to your quarters.”

And Clem did right after she tossed the cigarette into the water when Abel who looked as sick as she laid his eyes on her. Wouldn’t it worsen his well being anyway?

 

_***_

“Her name is Minerva.”

It’d been days since the last time she ate or saw Alvin Jr. and when they finally hit the land, she really could not care less about a girl her age sitting across. Although she did have the sky-soaking look in her eyes and godlike glow around her defined jawline and carelessly cut ginger hairline. Either that or Clem had started to hallucinate. Which was weird since she basically couldn’t recall how real hunger felt in the Delta up until now. 

“Fuck you,” said the captive particularly to no one after being introduced. Yet mostly she meant Lilly, as she was the one who openly enjoyed the feeling of forced power and authority.

“We got her sister. A twin even. She’s unconscious in the east part of the quarters,” were Clem supposed to know where east or west were on this ship because the last time she checked she’d been locked in her cabin for days with a guy who suffered from anxiety and teeth grinding, “We need information about their supply runners, strangers policy, walkers policy, amount of mouths and weapons. The only thing we know is their location.”

“Then why bother sneaking around and not just occupy and capture?”

“We talked about it.”

They sure did. _Psychological upper hand_. Gave kids a chance for easier adaptation; made them believe they needed Delta more than it needed them before even discovering its existence. Lilly did it all the time. Clementine hadn’t received proper acting lessons just yet.

“So you want me to torture them?” her sixteen-year-old face had produced more frowns than it probably should.

“Whatever works for you,” obedience and capability worked for her as long as it allowed her to see AJ and him to get to sleep with a full stomach.

“Bring the other twin.”

“Please, don’t,” that one was addressed to Clementine fruitlessly trying to outshine her indifference with desperation. She had seen enough of involuntary recruits to finally stop feeling sorry for them. She was there once, and nobody seemed to feel sorry for her or the child who had gotten his pinky cut off because she was the desperate one.

Clem wondered if somebody from the crew helped Sophie get a concussion. The dazed girl couldn’t articulate properly and even though for a prisoner she talked too much, most of it was gibberish mixed with a number of names that made no sense to the investigator and had Lilly losing her temperance. Then Minerva talked. It was short and clear before she let herself reveal a touch of death in her eyes after giving away the information about their fishing and hunting routing, potential fighters and almost non-existent supplies.

It turned out later that the twins were captured by a small group of Delta over a month ago and it was the first time them reuniting. This made Clem think only about one thing:

“Where’s AJ? Will I get to see him before I’m gone? Is he even on this ship?”

There was no answer. Now that she thought about that there weren’t much of the answers to anything she’d ever mused aloud. The last thing Clementine remembered before getting outraged had been something hard meeting the back of her head what made her subconscious wonder if darkness had come as quick for Sophie as it did for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Raiders have never met Marlon and Brody. They accidentally stumbled upon the twins and captured them. Soon after that they discovered the school and notified the main base where Lilly, AJ, and Clem were. The last one got the infiltration mission having them transported to this region.


	3. A Palette Knife

The temples filled her head with uncontrollable pounding while ears were doing a great job at ringing her way out of comatose. For the next lengthy seconds, the heaviness of her body wouldn’t allow her to move or notice her numb left arm being tied to a pipe. No, it was something else.

Clem squinted her eyes making an effort to overpower the persistent daylight on her hurting forehead when she got a sight of the steel rods above her. _Bunk beds?_ She didn’t remember the Delta bedrooms being that huge and if they were, she wouldn’t be laying there by herself.

Sharp corrosive sensation filled her abdomen just before the reality hit her. Weakness from prolonged hunger and the fresh injury wasn’t the thing that would motivate her to take immediate action at the time but she did not have much of a choice but to tear the tape up, put some pressure on her wrist and slowly stand up.

The room contained something Clementine hadn’t seen for a while: the romanticized aura of post-apocalypse, both depressing and melancholically appealing. There were wooden planks covering a broken window through which she examined a deserted courtyard. She then opened the drawers of a dresser with a first aid kit on it just to find a scrapbook with pictures of kids that looked familiar.

After checked windows, Clem looked for an exit detecting that somebody locked the door from the outside. _Shit._ What was that place anyway? With all those piles of books lying around, an empty closet with a box full of crayons, pencils and a bunch of palette knives. She took one that looked like it could deal with the door lock and be intimidating enough for any future encounter but before she could proceed, the sound of the unlocking door send a shiver down her spine along with a signal to find a hiding spot.

Peeking from the closet wall Clementine held her breath watching a tall guy in a long coat cautiously enter the room. He stopped in the middle examining empty beds and was about to turn around when she left her cover and with remaining strength, confusion, and annoyance pinned him to a wrecked bookshelf.

“Don’t you dare to scream or move.”

The moment Clem exhaled was when she noticed how young this guy was. For a second she let herself hesitate when the thought of him being armed and tossing aside her excuse for a weapon appeared. Yet he was just standing there looking at her like she was some made-up local ghost who had finally turned up. She didn't like it.

“A palette knife!” she did not like his lighthearted tone either. “Wait, a palette knife? Really? Wow. That how little people think of me nowadays? Yeah, I can tell. Is this thing sharp enough to even get through my epidermis? You know, you could at least cover your hands with sleeves and point an imaginary gun at me,” dumbstruck by the chatty reaction of the potential threat Clementine blinked for a few seconds before emerging irritation tightened the grip on the knife and the guy felt the blade on his neck. “Okay, okay, you’re not joking around. Figured. Still wouldn’t…”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Got it but... could you lower this little guy first?”

“The hell is this place?”

“Dorms,” answered he in the way that sounded like the word could mean something to her. “I could give you a quick tour around for a reasonable price if you in no rush,” Clem switched her arms pushing him to the wall with her left forearm and holding the weapon few inches away from his face with the right hand. “Okay, fine. It’ll be on the house then. We can even discuss delayed payments methods for rent and medical bills.”

What was this guy's deal? Was he seriously making the situation worse even if the threat looked like a girl one head shorter with practically a butter knife? Did she hit her head that hard? Was she still out?

“You literally can’t shut up to save your life, Louis,” another male voice made Clem flinch and turn her head to the sound of it. This one was blond with a calming determined expression and a bow aiming at her.

“I mean no harm but if you not lowering this weapon, you give me no choice,” he looked sincere and was definitely not a part of the Delta. She stepped back giving Louis more space and a reason for another guy to hide his arrows. “Sorry for handcuffing and locking you. You were in pretty rough shape, so we had to take some, um... precautions. We didn’t expect you to wake up this soon,” she probably shouldn’t have according to the blurry vision and impaired memory. “Anyway. We got your boy. He’s still unconscious and has a fever but my people got it under control.”

" _My boy?_ What do you mean?"

“The one who was with you by the river? When we found you?”

“River? AJ?” they couldn’t, could they? Clem wasn’t allowed to have him with her on the missions, how this one could be any different?

“Dude. I think Ruby was right about the concussion part,” there was a brief moment of disorientation before she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw a worried yet still joyful face.  “Don’t worry. I got you. How many handsome faces you’re seeing right now? Two? Three? A dozen? The name is Louis by the way”.

“I’m fine. I just need to…” she wasn’t fond of the way that Louis guy made her stomach feel. Not as bad as starvation but still not extremely pleasant. “I need you to show me where the boy is.”

“Sure. This way. My name is Marlon.”

“Clementine.”


	4. Before It All Began

“Don’t pay too much attention to Louis,” she wouldn’t. “He’s just… um, a harmless kind of a dumbass,” she figured, “who happened to be my best friend.” She did not care.

The dorm’s hallways were long and wrecked with blocked pathways and juvenile writings on the walls. Most of them consisted of nothing but a collection of f-words, so if AJ really was there, better not reveal him this part of the building. Some involved names or dialogues like:

 _“Hope Luis get his shit_ togethr

 _He wont_   _but lets_ _hope he stops_ singing

_jealousy is a fucking disease”_

_Well, that is one slow realization, Clementine_. She should have figured by now this place was the school, definitely but… something was off. Minerva did mention them running out of the supplies pointing out that fishing and hunting barely helped especially with upcoming winter. She did not say though how many people there were only listing three-four of them possessing somewhat decent surviving skills. Were there more people? Buildings?

“Who’s in charge?” they left Louis behind and were walking for a solid minute now and while Clem still couldn’t comprehend most of it, she needed to have some questions answered.

“I am.”

“You’re in charge,” the disbelief in her voice gave off a sense of offense.

“I know. I know how it looks: a kid taking care of kids. But we’ve made it so far.”

Marlon stopped in front of a passage that led to a first aid room. The air was heavy reminding the smell of hospital rooms.

“You mean no adults? At all?”

“Well, you can tell we’re pretty grown-up,” the guy awkwardly laughed and continued with somewhat serious expression when Clementine stared at him judgingly he would say, “but yeah, no adults. At all. The one thing that probably always been for the better.”

She couldn’t argue with the last part. However, she would with the first one if she had enough energy to mention that she only met two of them and the other one had already failed to make a mature expression.

“Ruby been taking care of him. I don’t think she’s there right now, so I'll leave you alone. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Wait. That’s it? You’re just… letting some strangers stay among your unarmed people?”

“Well, that was Louis and... you’ve been pretty harmless so far! For the most part. Plus in any case, it’d be eleven against one and a half, and I doubt you are that stupid.”

Eleven, huh? Sounded like a pretty good deal for the Delta. She even thought she heard slot machines going off with Lilly’s greedy face on it. Nope, just ears ringing. Good.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, really. It’s not like we have visitors swamping this place.”

Still, it was weird compared to what Clementine was used to but she could foreshadow the ultimate of that one. _Those places just targets, right?_ She wondered what Lee would say regarding recent events.

Well, for a medical room the place certainly wasn’t sterile but even with the strong smell of medicine and disgusting damp walls her next inhale felt like breathing in heaven. 

“AJ!” there he was. Resting with a bit painful but still kind of peaceful look. _Oh boy_ , even at gunpoint she wouldn’t recall the last time she saw her kid sleeping. The last two years were… rough, and this particular moment felt like a blessing.

Perhaps it was one. Lying beside him, feeling the warmth of his little body, hearing him sniffle quietly. She genuinely could not ask for more.

Clem was lying there still uneasy after what happened. With Delta, Louis, Marlon. Alvin Jr. Did the crew trust her enough to know for sure she wouldn’t flee with her boy? Did they take precautions as well? She forgot to ask Marlon what happened exactly at the river that made one of them end up with a fever. Or maybe it had been two of them; she wasn’t sure about her well being at the time. Delta was not trying to make those school kids feel sorry for an ill child, was it? Anyway, just by looking at them Clementine had a feeling that they would let her stay even if there were no AJ. She felt her skin crawl and decided it was time she could finally get some proper rest.

She fell asleep almost instantly with her lips pressing against his forehead and her hands gently hugging him while her mind was anxiously hoping she would awake to find AJ next to her.

The next time she woke up, the room was dark and empty.


	5. Way Radder

“Oh, hey? Didn’t know you were up.”

Clementine hid picked up from the medical room chair leg behind her back confronting a girl and acknowledging her aesthetically pleasant facial features and hospitable smile.

“Actually... I just woke up.”

“Perfect timing then! We were about to have dinner. C’mon,” Clem revealed her weapon cautiously putting it onto a windowsill nearby. “That’s some surviving reflexes you got. Clementine, right? I’m Brody.”

“I thought you were Ruby.”

She felt warmth quickly getting to the skin of her cheeks as soon as she caught up with Brody burying herself in embarrassment, thinking about knocking out this welcoming gesture with a chair leg just a second ago.

“Is it the hair? Hers way redder. And radder,”  _of course she has to sound sweet saying dumb shit._ “Mine… kinda got um, frustrated with no conditioner around.”

“I think you still got it,” there was uncertainty in her voice but it faded right after they shared a quiet laugh and got out of the building.

It was a while since she interacted with a girl her age the way she was supposed to. An unwelcome image of Sophie and Minerva came to mind making the tension eased by Brody cling to her shoulders. Clem brushed it off and took a quick look around noticing a bonfire and several outposts on her left. Before she could proceed to examine the whole courtyard, she felt somebody's hands embracing her legs almost knocking her off her feet.

“AJ?” Clementine returned the hug squatting down in front of him letting every part of her body get gooey. “I missed you so much, kiddo.”

“I missed you too,” she quickly examined his body paying special attention to his abdomen and back. There was a scratch above his left eyebrow and deep dark circles under his eyes. She would take a look at his bruises later, as she was sure he had plenty of those.

“Did you behave?”

“Well, he spent all the time eating and talking about you, so you can say he was good.”

“You guys fed him?” she stood up facing Marlon who had just stepped out of the main building.

“Right after he woke up. Mostly leftovers but it was enough before we were done hunting, so you both can go eat properly now,” Clementine would need to be half as nice as these people were if she wanted to get some information and convince anybody about the Delta.

“We’ll talk later, alright?” she whispered to AJ walking behind Marlon and Brody looking at kids sitting at picnic tables and eating quietly. _It’d be rude not to say hi at least—_

“Ah, The Palette Knife Queen!” something dropped inside her affected by the familiarity in the voice of standing in front of her Louis. His hands on hips, right corner of lips slightly lifted enhancing cunning in his warm eyes. "I bet Ten would love to see how you’re wielding Sophie's stuff. You should try crayons next time.”

It was too soon for her to hear that name. What were the odds she would be sleeping where the people she interrogated used to sleep?

“Look, I’m really sorry about what happened,” she sensed that her sincerity would be wiped away as soon as this guy would open his mouth again.

“Don’t be because I totally forgot what happened. I mean I probably won’t ever forget it but I forgot the damage you caused because there was none.”

“You know," Brody sat on a bench inviting Alvin Jr. to sit next to her, then looked at Louis. "I should probably be grateful I made it to this dinner table tonight considering that Clementine was about to knock me out with a chair leg when I found her,” nice. Another one to put her on the spot.

Louis blinked quickly a few times slowing down while trying to suppress a smile and hide some kind of realization beneath his eyes. Clementine looked away to apologize to Brody but was interrupted by her:

“Hate to say this but whatever Louis just said... you can apply to me, so don’t sweat it.”

It didn’t feel like she was being welcomed by a group of nice people anymore. It was starting to feel like she was among a bunch of lunatics gradually becoming one. Now it all made sense.

“Get the fuck out of the way! This shit is fucking hot,” that felt… better. Although AJ staring into the distance with the look you only get when Jesus offers you a dog’s piss turned into Irish whiskey made her sigh hopelessly. 

A hunched girl with two bowls of stew squeezed through Louis and Clementine and placed it where Clem assumed the newcomers would sit. She never laid an eye on her or Alvin Jr. and sat down across with Marlon beside her and the guy who talked too much settling in the center. The last one then whispered that her name was Violet and she usually needed some time to grow on anyone new although there'd never been anyone new.

The rest of dinner went smoothly. Mostly because there was no talking. Other kids didn’t pay any attention to them, and Clementine decided it’d better stay that way for now. The frown didn’t leave her face though seeing how hungry AJ was while sloppily eating everything up. When was the last time this kid had seen any food besides today?

She looked at her meal concerned and still unsettled how to act around those people. It was more than okay so far, basically reminding her of vacation with the unknown of tomorrow creeping upon on her, making her lose her appetite. Though she could not argue with the fact that this hot meal instantly put her in a more relaxed drowsy state of mind.

“Since our guest sitting here all tense _,_ " Louis sinked his hands into the coat and instantly directed the attention of the group to her. "I think it’s time for something very important," he finally pulled out a card deck staring at Clem suggestively. 

“Oh, God. Goodnight.”

She looked at Brody walking away with the expression goofball would look at her whenever Clementine left him for an indefinite amount of time. Never again, she would get the urge to follow someone that badly.


	6. Fingers Crossed

If that was her golden ticket to warming those school kids’ hearts, she was willing to pull a card or two, tell them about her possibly made-up past, find an approach to each of them, especially Violet who managed to win the first round.

“What happened to your kid?” she asked.

Clementine turned around fixating her attention on the table where AJ with a kid a bit older—

“That’s not what I meant. I mean he’s missing a finger and I’m pretty sure that’s not something he was born with.”

“Violet.”

“What, _Marlon_? He’s a kid. It’s weird to have it cut off at his age. Plus,” Clem exchanged a hostile look with the girl while getting visibly uncomfortable, “you’re missing one too.”

Her pelvis tightened along with her jaw when instead of keeping their friend quiet Marlon and Louis watched Clementine as if waiting for her reaction. It was a game after all. She knew what she had signed up for.

“Well, mine wasn’t cut off. It was slammed by a car door,” she let boiling up irritation invade her posture and then put an actual effort to soften the skin of her face. “His…”

Not her favorite topic to discuss even when Alvin Jr. himself would bring it up. Clem was pretty sure his memories of their first days at Delta were suppressed to the point where there was no place for overwhelming rage to eat him up the way it did her.

“He was three at the time, and it wasn’t pretty.”

She thought she caught sight of mute apology in Violet’s eyes and with no reaction made a mental note that she’d need to avoid carelessness in her presence.

“Marvelous start of the game. I can already see somebody leaving this table with a palette knife in their throat—”

“I think I said I was sorry,” still uptight she threw an intense look his way. Did not seem to bother Louis though.

“Don’t mind him. It’s his thing.”

“What thing exactly?” Clem pulled a card and turned to Marlon. “Repeating the same joke even if it wasn’t funny the first time?”

She heard Violet’s giggle and that for some reason put her mind at ease.

“Figured you’d be a tough crowd,” she rolled her eyes at Louis’ comment waiting for the group leader to ask his question.

“Ok, I’ll try to go easy on you,” pausing for a second Marlon cleared his throat and frown a little. “How did you end up here?” _Fucking knew it_. “This area specifically. We found you by our fishing spot with your kid soaked wet and well, the condition you were in…”

That was something she herself was interested in and would like to hear Lilly’s explanation. Fortunately, she had the whole dinnertime to come up with something.

“We had a horse for a while. It did not look tame enough but we couldn’t really be picky,” she was actually planning to steal one when she was a full-time Delta soldier but there was no chance it could go smoothly under that kind of supervision. Suddenly she flinched and looked sideways at the walls around. They wouldn’t put a sniper on a tree nearby, would they? This whole thing was so unnecessary.

“So you guys fell?”

“Maybe? I don’t remember.”

“We haven’t seen any horse.”

“Then it just means we got to be careful enough to not let our next dinner get eaten by zombie horses next time we’re out.”

“Since when _you_ going out?” Violet snapped making Clem scoff. 

A few rounds of ridiculously predictable questions and a permission to call her Clem later she gradually started getting used to their speaking patterns and body language and finally got the chance to ask about the number of guts everyone had in possession.

“So… ever got a chance to kill anybody _besides_ walkers?”

“I haven’t,” the way Vi’s face turned still made Clementine doubt that statement.

“Nope. Never,” _what a surprise_. “And I prefer it stays that way.”

She almost let out _“too bad”_ and took a more analyzing look at the guy sitting next to her. Seemed like she had found someone who definitely wouldn’t make it through their first week in Delta, so speaking with Louis from now on would be like interacting with a conscious set of corpses.

No. That’d be all of them. Her including.

“I have,” Marlon wasn’t a surprise either. “They were all our people who were about to turn.” Her chest clenched. What a fun game— “Clem?”

“Marlon?” she took a teasing note in his voice as a solid formal invitation to stay at the boarding school.

“Being on the road all the time and probably having the background of a serial killer—give me one reason why I shouldn’t kick you out right now,” Clementine opened her mouth slightly, then smiled victoriously and crossed her arms leaning back.

“Because _I_ have a cute kid.”

“He _is_ cute. He didn’t know what the piano was.”

“Oh, he definitely is but if I were you, I’d be a little concern,” before Clem could exhale _excuse me?_ sitting at the top of her lungs Vi slyly added: “He thinks Louis is cool.”

“You know if you put some effort into smiling as much as you do with eye-rolling, you would make some friends too.”

Those kids were unusually easy. Even Violet. Even after the recent loss of their people.

“I suggest we forget for a second how much of an emo Violet is and get into something really worthwhile. Something I can promise will…”

“Just ask your damn question.”

“Ok. _Clem_ ,” he exclaimed in a way as if implying nobody knew whom he would address the question to. “What do you find, um—I mean what would you say your type is?”

“Oh, my god.”

“What? Perfectly valid question.”

“You don’t have to answer that.”

“She actually has to.”

“You don’t. Don’t encourage him in any way. Ever.”

Shit, they _were_ kids. Not older than her trying to hold on to their youth covering the world’s misery with the school gates. She was a kid once. Now she was a whole bunch of things. In her world, she couldn’t allow herself the risk of wishful thinking. She couldn’t call herself a kid while carrying one on her back. Clem wasn’t Marlon. A kid taking care of kids. Nor Louis. An irresponsible kid. Violet. A severely wounded kid. Was this a good enough report for Lilly?

“My type?” now, however, she would need to act like one.

 _A disguised kid_.

“You know. The type of guy, girl, walker you’re attracted to”.

“Never really had time to think about it.”

“I never thought about making out sessions with walkers either but here we are,” yeah, he definitely getting stabbed the first night in Delta. “Let’s do now. Go crazy.”

“You really can’t fucking help it, can you?” Clementine chuckled at genuine disgust in Violet’s voice.

“What? How was your finger question any better?”

It took Clem a minute to realize that there hadn’t been an abundance of types she could think of besides—

“I don’t know. Someone rational. Resourceful. And definitely a good influence for AJ,” she checked on her boy one more time smiling at the sight of him messing up a sheet of paper with a blue crayon. That was odd. He really did behave.

“Sounds like a hard pass for Louis.”

Something wrong crossed her mind. Something that felt immoral even in the world where morality had been beaten on the daily. She wouldn’t. It was out of the question and never an option. _God._ What a weird thing mind was.

They agreed on one more round since there wasn't anybody around besides Ten and AJ, and Marlon had a lookout shift in a few minutes.

Clem drew the queen of spades.

“Ok.  _Louis_ ,” she was not doing that. She was just simulating his tone and expression while slightly tilting her head with the hand on her chin.

“Oh. Wow… Guys, I—I think you two can be excused now.”

He didn’t look like a guy that would mind, did he? He would be cool, right? _Definitely, Clem._ He looked like someone who would definitely be cool with being led on, stabbed in the back and captured by a group of raiders to kill or be killed. _Sure, Clementine._

“So, Louis… do you have a thing about breaking into blacked out girls’ rooms or was I an exception?”

“Low blow,” she heard Marlon exclaim.

“I bet _you_ are a package of exceptions,” her eyebrows rose the moment she’d gotten taken aback by the way his face changed because it didn’t. He just kept smiling with the same unapologetic mischief in his eyes making her want to look away while she had been successfully withstanding Violet’s testing stares all night.

“Dude, she basically called you a creep and you keep sweet-talking.”

“That’s even creepier.”

“I’ve met a number of creeps to detect one,” Clem managed to avert her gaze. “Louis barely a threat.”

“Creeps don’t always mean threats. And I’m still here!”

“And I’m still patiently waiting for my well-earned answer,” she wasn’t. She was ready to leave the courtyard and cover her head with dusty blankets.

“Well, it was just out of curiosity,” that was exactly what _she_ did just a minute ago instead of asking any assignment related question. Oh fuck, she should have just asked what was the deal with that skunk living on Marlon’s head and call it a night.  “We have never seen an outsider before, and the bedroom—I wanted to check how weird it’d be to see someone in the twins’ room. You know, Ten’s sisters,” _Shit_. “We lost them a month ago I think, so no wonder we put you in their room with the matrasses still there and the room being lived-in. It felt like something, you know,” she didn’t. She didn’t want to know either. “Like something was about to happen”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized how edgy Clem is. Isn't she adorable?


End file.
